Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Google Rewards Devs With Free Phones

This was a welcome surprise today.
Due to your contribution to the success of Android Market, we would like to present you with a brand new Android device as part of our developer device seeding program. You are receiving this message because you’re one of the top developers in Android Market with one or more of your applications having a 3.5 star or higher rating and more than 5,000 unique downloads.
That's a snippet from the email sent to qualifying developers today. Did I have a qualifying app? C'mon now. I have 6!

Golf Solitaire Free: 73,605 (4 stars)
JoyBuzz: 17,298 (3.5 stars)
PetBook Free: 9,081 (3.5 stars)
Puzzle Lords Free: 5,957 (4 stars)
Spades Free: 113,727 (3.5 stars)
TippinTime: 11,189 (4.5 stars)

Another week and Dominoes would have also made the list, with 4,836 downloads and a 4-star rating.

Do I get 6 phones? Mmmm...probably not. But I'm happy with the one, and I'd just like to extend a hearty thanks to the folks at Google for this gesture. I'm certainly happy to be developing for Android, and I'm also racking up a pretty nice Android phone collection. I've got my trusty G1, an HTC Tattoo, my Droid, and hopefully soon a shiny new Nexus One. Verizon's service has been nice, but it is a bit more expensive. I'm not locked into a contract, so I may very well head back to T-Mobile with the Nexus One.

Which phone are they sending out? That part is a bit strange. If you're in the US, you randomly either get a Motorola Droid or a Nexus One.

Now, I already own a Droid, so I would very much like a Nexus One. I'm not sure why they didn't just dole out the preferred device on a first-come, first-serve basis. If they have a set number of each they could give devs their preferred device until they ran out, then just give the rest away to those who were the last ones to register. As it is, some devs have already talked of swapping, and someone has already set up a forum to facilitate the swaps. Ah well...a pretty minor quibble with otherwise wonderful news.

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